Don't forget it is you (and me) who will pay these union scammers if a judge rules the Detroit pensions must be paid-----Detroit pension board trustees walk out of meeting during vote on legal contract

And if they pay no penalty, they'll continue their crooked secret deals, FOREVER! 
Detroit pension board trustees walk out of meeting during vote on legal contract | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
"The city’s two pension funds filed a request to appeal Judge Steven Rhodes ruling on Tuesday that Detroit is eligible for bankruptcy and that pensions can be cut in a forthcoming plan to resolve the city’s $18-billion debt and long-term liabilities. 
Detroit’s pension funds have maintained that the state constitution shields vested retirement benefits in bankruptcy, but Rhodes disagreed."

Peek at your pee! What The Color of Your Urine Says About You (Infographic)

What The Color of Your Urine Says About You (Infographic) — Health Hub from Cleveland Clinic

Remember, democrats assure us we aren't NOT paying our fair share.....right? ----House proposes 15-cent federal gas tax hike

And you thought only those nasty rich guys were gonna get stuck?
House proposes 15-cent federal gas tax hike [w/poll] - Autoblog:
"The cost of a gallon of fuel may go up if a Democratic representative from Oregon gets his way.
Earl Blumenauer has reportedly proposed a bill in the House of Representatives to raise the federal gas tax 15 cents per gallon in a bid to cover a shortfall in transportation funding (we told you so?).
The current federal tax is 33.4 cents per gallon on gas and 42.8 cents per gallon of diesel.

Union thugs and democrats working hard to toss all those workers into the unemployment lines-----Can Fast Food Jobs Really Be Replaced By Machines?

Can Fast Food Jobs Really Be Replaced By Machines? | The Skeptical Libertarian Blog:
"You bet: McDonald’s just added 7,000 touch-screen kiosks to handle ordering and cashier duties in its European stores."

Look for that Chinese label-----Entire New 13-Story Building Tips Over in Shanghai

Entire New 13-Story Building Tips Over in Shanghai: "This past Saturday, an entire apartment building in Shanghai collapsed.
To be fair, the building was under construction and thus unoccupied, but it's still a minor miracle that there was only one fatality."

Morons who majored in communications are America's "science filters". That ain't right-----Media’s Chicken Little Hurricane Predictions Fall Flat

Media’s Chicken Little Hurricane Predictions Fall Flat | Media Research Center:
"Hurricane season ended Nov. 30, with an all time-low for hurricanes.
The weak outcome didn’t fit the environmental disaster narrative the media had concocted leading up to hurricane season. ABC, NBC and CBS devoted broadcasts to scaring viewers with news of “devastating tornadoes, searing heat waves, withering droughts” and “powerful hurricanes.”
But they became strangely silent once the season finished … and next to nothing had happened."

Obama's war on America------The Government’s War on Long-Haul Truckers

The Government’s War on Long-Haul Truckers | National Review Online
Long-haul truckers are vanishing? Is there someone protecting this endangered species? God knows we have enough people fighting for the survival of the dunes sagebrush lizard.
...... as we learned how public policy dictated by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., was affecting his life — and the lives of all long-haul truckers — for the worse: “Lately, though, Mr. Hernandez’s patience has been worn thin by a confusing tangle of rules, efficiency directives, and electronic devices that cap his speed, log his every move, and practically try to autopilot his truck. Magnifying the stress are more federal rule changes that took effect in July and are now roiling the industry.”

The federal agency that is doing all this is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), an agency within a bigger agency, the Department of Transportation.

Morons, thieves, lazy, scumbags. Hire them to "protect" your pension, and Detroit is what you get------------------------Pension financing is even more complicated than I thought.

Pension financing is even more complicated than I thought. | Public Sector Inc:

"Detroit City Manager Kevin Orr has charged (accurately) that over more than a decade the city’s main pension plan siphoned off over $750 million from the plan’s investments to pay so-called “13th checks” to both workers and retirees.

Union official and pension board member John Riehl, who was involved with these bonus payments, responded:
“Some say that if the board had invested those excess earnings funds over the 23-year period, the pension fund would be in better shape today. 
Given the numerous factors that influence fund performance over such a long period, it’s impossible to predict whether that’s true.”

Look, I know this stuff is technical and maybe I’m not bright enough to get it.
But can someone explain to me how putting another $750 million in the City’s pension could have failed to make it better off?
The worst you can do is lose it all, in which case you’re still even."

A somber anniversary-----My new friend, candidate Mark Schauer writes to tell me how our Gov. Snyder has been nasty to Michigan's wonderful union bosses.

 

Jim--

I can’t believe how many stepped up and contributed to our campaign in advance of the deadline last week. It was truly heartwarming to see so many of you supporting us.

Rick Snyder isn’t right for us. He is a constant roadblock to getting anything done for Michigan’s middle class families. Unlike Snyder, I am someone who has always stood on the side of worker's rights. That is why the month of December holds a somber anniversary for our state.

This coming Wednesday marks one year since Governor Snyder signed his reckless right-to-work legislation. This legislation made it harder for unions to organize to protect worker's rights, while putting more money in the pockets of corporate executives.

That is why my campaign is starting a petition to demand that Michigan repeal this anti-worker law. Can you click here and add your name to our petition today?

Thanks for standing up for Michiganders everywhere,

Mark

Blog: Arctic ice cap grows 29% in one year

Blog: Arctic ice cap grows 29% in one year:
"In the United States, President Obama still plans to bypass Congress, which like the American people is highly skeptical of the discredited-by-events predictions, and use administrative regulations and executive orders to impose drastic and expensive carbon restrictions on the American economy.
These will cost jobs and lower the standard of living particularly for lower income Americans, who can least afford the higher electricity, food, gasoline, and other prices that inevitably will result.
Global warming is the most expensive and widespread con job in the history of the world. 
There must be a terrible reckoning for the "scientists" and profiteers who have foisted this crackpot atrocity on the world."

To Propagandize The West, The Soviet Union’s Lenin Recruited A Corps Of Useful Idiots

In the USA we call them "journalists".
To Propagandize The West, The Soviet Union’s Lenin Recruited A Corps Of Useful Idiots - Investors.com:
"Lenin also feared that unless other countries went communist, his own revolution would be doomed to collapse under economic failure.

This drove him to try something new at the time: a special corps of "useful idiots." (The term is actually not Lenin's, but that of economist Ludwig von Mises.) These foot soldiers would push his revolution in every country — co-opting and subverting democratic processes, fomenting strikes, installing secret armies and, above all, propagandizing according to Moscow's dictates.

Useful idiots-----Princeton University Orchestra Debuts ‘Ballad for Trayvon Martin’

Princeton University Orchestra Debuts ‘Ballad for Trayvon Martin’:
"Trayvon Martin continues to be a subject of intense interest for the academic elite. The Princeton University Orchestra and the University Concert Jazz Ensemble is set to debut “The Ballad for Trayvon Martin” today, NJ.com reports.

The goal of the music, according to its composer, noted jazz artist Anthony D.J. Branker, is to pay homage to victims of racial violence.

“I simply want to make a connection,” Branker said, “whether it’s on a level of social consciousness, or music and expression.”

Branker said his composition “speaks to all of us to continue to work together so that children of any race, ethnicity or religious affiliation never have to meet such a tragic end.”"

OMG! "Dozens"! ------Dozens Protest ‘Slave Wages’ For Fast-Food Workers In Metro Detroit

I'm thinkin' these slaves wouldn't be all that unhappy with $7.00/hr and some McNuggets.
All "dozens" of them.....

Dozens Protest ‘Slave Wages’ For Fast-Food Workers In Metro Detroit « CBS Detroit:
"DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - Dozens of demonstrators lined up outside an east side Detroit McDonald’s restaurant in an effort to protest what one man called “slave wages” for fast-food workers.

The protest was just one of many taking place nationwide to raise pay in low-wage sectors to $15 an hour. Workers on Thursday are expected to walk off their jobs in Michigan and across the nation, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway, Wendy’s, Checkers and KFC.
Clergy, elected officials and community supporters are also expected to join workers on the strike lines."

Say what? "Economists are divided over whether..." increasing the cost of labor will reduce the demand for that labor?????? Fair wage protests at Michigan fast-food restaurants underway

Why don't these imbecilic "journalists demand a doubling of their pay?
Fair wage protests at Michigan fast-food restaurants underway | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
"Economists are divided whether raising the minimum wage would make it harder for low-skilled workers to find employment and whether it would be a beneficial to the economy, a survey of experts taken by the University of Chicago’s Initiative on Global Markets Forum in February showed."

Texas Democrat Wendy Davis Donated $515 Of Her $235k Income To Charity, But Wants To Redistribute Your Earnings

Texas Democrat Wendy Davis Donated $515 Of Her $235k Income To Charity, But Wants To Redistribute Your Earnings | Independent Journal Review:
"The Democrats’ big abort-happy hope to capture the Texas governorship just released her taxes, and despite her wanting to take your money and give it to anyone who signs up to welfare, she didn’t give much herself.

In 2011, she earned $235,428, but gave a paltry $515 to charity. That’s less than one percent of her income, in fact, it barely scratches one-fifth of one percent.

Democrats are so charitable! Not with their own money, but with yours, of course.

2012 wasn’t much better, even though her income jumped to $284,183. That year, she gave just $950 in contributions to charity, This works out to a very generous three-tenths of one percent!

Amazing how hypocritical they are about your earned money, isn’t it?"

Amazing how, with zero science to back up the claims, pot went from illegal/bad for you to "desperately needed" for children----------Vote on medical marijuana bills allowing dispensaries, edibiles, pharmacy sales on hold

Vote on medical marijuana bills allowing dispensaries, edibiles, pharmacy sales on hold | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
"The edibles bill is needed because many patients, especially seriously ill children, can’t smoke the product, Kowall said.

“The law has largely been reduced to smoking and vaporizing the marijuana,” Kowall said. “But after speaking with caregivers, most would prefer to ingest in ways other than smoking. They desperately need alternative delivery methods.”

Jim Powers of Centerline brought his toddler son Ryan, who has minimal change nephorsis, an autoimmune disease that attacks the kidneys, mostly in young children. Marijuana-infused oils have helped modulate his immune system and alleviate the symptoms of the disease.

“Out of desperation, we turned to cannabis oil and he went into remission, but the court of appeals ruled his medicine illegal,” Powers said."

Please Obama, don't stop innovation----Odon childbirth device: Car mechanic uncorks a revolution

This a pretty cool story
BBC News - Odon childbirth device: Car mechanic uncorks a revolution:
"We went to a hospital and sat - in our suits - in a room full of expectant mothers," Odon says.
"My friend was still sceptical, so when we went to see the doctor, at first he sat quite far away from me. But once he saw that the doctor was interested in this idea and quite impressed, he moved his chair closer and started saying 'we' have invented this!""

Why are we allowing our tax dollars to pay for racist, anti-white rants? ------White students fed up with black prof’s racial screeds, lawsuits fly

White students fed up with black prof’s racial screeds, lawsuits fly | The Daily Caller:
"The trouble began in English professor Shannon Gibney’s Introduction to Mass Communications class at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
Though the class ostensibly has little to do with race, Gibney considers herself an activist on racial issues, and frequently invokes white privilege and oppression during class time, according to her students. (She has previously taught classes on race and gender.)

Recently, several white students announced that they had had enough with Gibney’s incessant racial screed. They interrupted her during a lecture, and said, “Why do we have to talk about this in every class? Why do we have to talk about this?” according to Gibney’s account of the incident, which was recorded by the City College News."

Obamacare Already Raises the Minimum Wage

Obamacare Already Raises the Minimum Wage

Another push is underway to raise the minimum wage. But what you probably haven’t heard is that Obamacare has already done that.

The plan on the table in Congress would raise the federal minimum wage above $10 an hour (which is higher than all existing state rates). Obamacare’s mandate on employers, however, is already scheduled to raise the hourly cost of hiring a full-time worker past $10 an hour.

....Unfortunately, this will make entry-level jobs harder to get. And these jobs are important. For the majority, they are stepping stones to higher pay and higher-skilled positions. As Heritage’s James Sherk and Patrick Tyrrell explain:

Two-thirds of minimum wage workers earn raises within a year. Entry-level jobs pay off in the long run for many workers. But if Congress adds a minimum-wage hike to the Obamacare mandate, many employees will never get that chance.

Of course, companies with 50 or more employees can avoid Obamacare’s mandate by cutting workers’ hours below 30 hours per week. An increasing number of employers announced plans to do exactly that before the Administration delayed the mandate a year. Fewer hours is not a good outcome for workers.

If you ever needed proof these "polls" are absolute bull-pockey, here it is-----Detroit ranks among happiest cities in U.S., according to new iPhone app

Detroit ranks among happiest cities in U.S., according to new iPhone app | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
"The No. 1 smiling city, according to Jetpac: St. Louis, Mo., followed by Kansas City, Mo., and Columbus Ohio. In fact, seven of the 10 smiling-est cities are in the Midwest, including bankrupt Detroit, at No. 9."

Obama's america-----Feds not required to report security breaches of Obamacare exchange website

This government is at war with its people.
And most people don't have a clue.
Feds not required to report security breaches of Obamacare exchange website « Watchdog.org:
"Americans who buy health insurance through the federal Obamacare exchange website could have their personal information stolen by hackers and never even know it.
Most of the state-run health exchange websites will be covered by state laws that require notification when government databases are breached by hackers.
But there is no law requiring notification when databases run by the federal government are breached, and even though the Department of Health and Human Services was asked to include a notification provision in the rules being drawn up for the new federal exchange, it declined to do so."

From Prohibition to Obamacare

From Prohibition to Obamacare | Somewhat Reasonable

It is one of the great mysteries that, for progressives, also called liberals, the past provides no lessons, no warnings that would prevent them from repeating their errors.
Progressives are always focused on a magical future in which there will be no wars, no hunger, no poverty.
Their belief in the redistribution of wealth—communism—is, in Winston Churchill’s words, “the equal sharing of misery.”

Obamacare is a perfect example of the progressive inability to accept that socialism and/or communism simply does not work. 
It depends on coercion and in the case of communism it left hundreds of millions dead in its wake over the course of the last century. 
Obamacare depends on (1) the belief that human nature will change—which it will not—and (2) the lies to implement it.

......As I listened to and read about the Obamacare roll-out, I was reminded of an earlier program that was adopted, Prohibition. It involved a nationwide ban on the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. It was the law of the land from 1920 until 1933. When it went into effect it was hailed as a victory for public morals and health. By the time it was repealed with the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution, Americans had seen the growth of organized crime, the corruption that permitted ordinary citizens to ignore it,  and the loss of the taxes to fund other aspects of governance.

Wikipedia notes that “By 1925, in New York City alone, there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs” where liquor was sold. Prohibition proved nearly impossible to implement and enforce.”

Barack Obama represents the high-water mark of progressives to impose communism on America. 
A totalitarian form of government, we have witnessed how his administration has turned the Internal Revenue Service into a political instrument to suppress its opponents and has expanded the National Security Agency into a means to spy on all Americans, accessing every piece of communication between them. 
Obamacare enables the government to know every bit of information about individual’s health records.

Killing the golden goose does have its downside-----In Detroit, there's just no money

In Detroit, there's just no money | The Detroit News:
"Looking for the truth at the bottom of Detroit’s bankruptcy? Hard to find words much truer than these from Kevyn Orr: “There’s just no money.”

That was the emergency manager’s answer when I asked if there’s any alternative to slashing the pensions of city retirees to erase $11.5 billion in unsecured debt.

What if he heeded the pleas of the union protesters outside the federal courthouse Tuesday and demanded the banks forfeit 100 percent of the debt they hold, instead of the 90 percent Orr reportedly has asked for? Would that spare the pensions?

“Detroit would still be insolvent,” Orr replied.

Convincing the banks to walk away from everything they’re owed would give the city $2 billion to work with — but remember, it will already likely get $1.6 billion of that. By all means, stick it to the banks, but don’t pretend the additional $500 million to be gained in doing so will help retirees."

"Code Pink" surprisingly not a hot item on the MSM. Who'd of thunk....

Darwin Award nonination--Libyan officials say US teacher killed in Benghazi

"Jogging"?
Seriously?
Jogging.... to improve his health and fitness?
In Benghazi?
Never heard of "fitness equipment"?
My Way News - Libyan officials say US teacher killed in Benghazi:
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - Unknown assailants shot an American teacher to death as he was jogging on Thursday in Benghazi, a hospital official said, underlining persistently tenuous security in the eastern Libyan city where the U.S. ambassador was killed last year.

Fadyah al-Burghathi, spokeswoman for the Al-Galaa hospital, said the body of a man from Texas was brought to the hospital on Thursday with gunshot wounds. A security official said the American taught chemistry at the city's International School, a Libyan-owned institute that follows an American curriculum.

No one has claimed responsibility for the teacher's killing but suspicion is likely to fall on Islamic militants active in the city.

Friendly reminder, this was the media lie of last week----- Don't believe everything you read on the internet

Friendly reminder: Don't believe everything you read on the internet - The Week:
"The only problem? The knockout game is likely a myth predicated on three isolated instances reported across the country, the first of which dates back to October 2012. Some outlets compounded the problem by showing video of one of the horrifying instances, then suggested the game might be spreading. Indeed, the easily digestible narrative provides a convenient and click-bait-y story (even if the dangers were overblown), that preys largely on, as Robin Abcarian suggests, "the ongoing demonization of black teenagers." (Emphasis added.)

There is no consensus among law enforcement that the "knockout game" is even a thing. "If ever there was an urban myth, this was it," a Jersey City police spokesman told the New York Times last week. But that has not stopped a Republican New York assemblyman from proposing a "Knockout Assault Deterrent Act," requiring teens to be tried as adults with prison terms of up to 25 years. That, friends, is how you institutionalize racism. [Los Angeles Times]"

Hmmmm. This ought to be news to the NYT and NPR------Sharpton, Civil Rights Leaders Launch Fight Against ‘Knockout Game’

What will the leftist MSM do with all their articles and "proofs" the "knockout game" doesn't exist?
Sharpton, Civil Rights Leaders Launch Fight Against ‘Knockout Game’ « CBS New York:
"NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) —
The Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders have launched a social media campaign in an effort to stop the violent “knockout game.”"

Choose Death?

Eco-morons may just allow the real threat to kill us all----EPA's McCarthy Is Wrong: Climate Change Isn't Top Public Health Threat

EPA's McCarthy Is Wrong: Climate Change Isn't Top Public Health Threat - Investors.com

Hysteria: The Environmental Protection Agency chief says global warming is the most urgent threat to public health.
Given that the whole climate change frightfest has fallen apart, how do people keep saying such things?

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy says she has dedicated her life to protecting the environment. It's too bad she is not more dedicated to reality.
If she were, her comments Monday before the left-wing Center for American Progress would have been different.

But McCarthy knew who she was speaking to and told the group what it wanted to hear when she said, "I really see no greater issue and no more urgent threat to public health than climate change."

In addition, the CDC's "Threat Report 2013" says that "many more people die from other conditions that were complicated by an antibiotic-resistant infection."

And how many Americans die each year due to man-made global warming? The answer is none, of course.
Obviously this government functionary has missed the news that the world might be entering a post-antibiotic era in which organisms resistant to the drugs that remarkably increased health and longevity in the 20th century will pose grave dangers.

Already, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 2 million people become infected each year in the U.S. "with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections."

...The radical environmentalists, who are aligned with most Democrats and the mainstream media, have no sense of proportion.
Climate change is an idea hatched and sustained by fevered minds.
It has killed no one, but somehow it is still the top public health issue, says McCarthy, and requires "global action."

While fixated on a fraud, the alarmists haven't been able to see the real public health threats around them, from the post-antibiotic era to terrorism to the re-emergence of diseases — measles, mumps, tuberculosis — we had almost eradicated to the possible widespread and uncontainable outbreaks of bird flu, SARS and the West Nile virus.

That MONSTER!!!!! Records: Ferris State football coach shook player

The wussification of America.
Records: Ferris State football coach shook player - ESPN

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. -- Ferris State coach Tony Annese shook a player and struck two others on the shoulder pads in a locker room outburst that led to an eight-day suspension last month, records show.

The documents, obtained by MLive.com under the Freedom of Information Act, indicate the Big Rapids school launched an investigation after a complaint by a "concerned individual."